Prom Biskra on the Sahara we started' on a walking tour among the
mountains of the desert.
We got a couple of tents, bedding, camp furniture, and food, and two
mules to carry it all. We also got two Arabs to guide us and be
generally useful. Their names were Rahmoun and Ibrahim.
Our preparations did not take us long, and we were soon camped out on
the desert, far from other human habitations, in the glorious sunshine
of North Africa.
At night, although the air was keen and cold, we had our beds put
outside the tent in the open, and we slept under the stars.
The drawback to camping was the difficulty in getting fresh water and
firewood. We generally carried bottles of fresh water with us, as even
when we were able to find a trickle of water in a river-bed, it was
frequently brackish or half salt.
[Illustration: "We were soon camped out on the desert, far from other
human habitations, in the glorious sunshine of North Africa."]
Then there were no trees or bushes with which to light our fire, so we
had to collect the smallest sticks and straws to act as "punk" and
loaded up any parched plants that we could find, and these, together
with twigs and branches of little thorn tufts, enabled us to make a
fire. It was not a big one, but then a Scout does not need a bonfire
to cook his food.
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